Lydia McGrew Answered! On Gospel Differences

Part 7 in a series of 8 videos. Mike Licona assesses several Gospel differences and compares his approach to that of Lydia McGrew in her book "The Mirror or the Mask."

McGrew has been criticizing New Testament scholars in general and, especially Mike Licona's book "Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? What We Can Learn From Ancient Biography" (New York: OUP, 2017). Because Mike usually has no interest in "in-house theological debates," he has refused to respond for the past few years. However, the division this in-house debate is causing in the Body of Christ and the many continuous requests he has received to reply to McGrew has led to his decision to offer this response.

#lydiamcgrew #mirrororthemask

[Nikich]

Lydia McGrew would rather say that Matthew erred than admit to the use of a compositional device? Unbelievable.

[darjbrock]

Very good work. I got tired of hearing from seminary and college students how they couldn't reconcile these differences and still maintain their faith. Why is it so hard for some to understand? I think a big part of it is that people are taught erroneous doctrines about how to view the text. If the text is perceived to have any inconsistencies or error then it is simply totally untrustworthy and their faith is in vain. That is the pinnacle of "black and white" or "in or out" thinking.

[MikeLiconaOfficial]

McGrew has accused me of misrepresenting her in Part 6 related to her terms "dyschronology" and "achronology." For my reply, see

[clarkbates]

Mike, you should read the article "Fowler's Fallacy" in the new JBL. It directly impacts your here and would be worth considering.

[alvinwright]

Great video, Scholar Mike. Please keep on enlightening nonbelivers and Christiansalike. Very didactic info!

[basilrex]

In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas: "in necessary things unity; in uncertain things liberty; in all things charity."

[richardredmond]

Thanks again for this seventh segment.

[slamrn]

In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary series (revised edition 2017) on Matthew, DA Carson writes: "COMMENTARY ¶5a The setting Matthew gives must be accepted. Although he arranges much of his material topically, uses loose time connectives, and condenses his sources and sometimes paraphrases them, there is no convincing evidence that Matthew invents settings. Nor will appeal to some elusive genre suffice. If Matthew is a coherent writer, such nonhistorical material must be reasonably and readily separable from his historical material, if the alleged 'genre' was recognizable to the first readers. Verse 5a could scarcely be clearer: 'These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions.'"

It appears that DA Carson is, in fact, not a proponent of "the alleged 'genre'". So who is doing the cherry picking here?

[DonCamilloXionc]

Dr. Mike Licona, don't you rely too much on the critical theories of the origin of the synoptic Gospels? After all, the differences in the relations of synoptics do not necessarily indicate bad will of the authors or literary simplifications. it may result from a difference in the sources (testimonials of witnesses, inaccurate descriptions and memories). There are really many possibilities. Better to leave these questions open.

[TheJason]

Just curious, does anyone know what tradition/denomination Lydia is ??

[jessegandy]

I would be interested to know how Lydia McGrew views biblical inspiration. If Matthew erred, where was the Spirit in that error?

[Harshchhabraofficial]

Brother i have a question the story of a adulterous women which is mentioned in john is not present in original manuscript of john and in that is written that adulteress woman who was to be got Stone.
In papyrus 66 (ancient manuscript) and codex sinaiticus describes no such story but in upcoming manuscript someone has added that story .so how we reconcile this issue.my freind ask me this question so i kindly request you to reply please that how we know that, that passage is reliable and historically correct.

[donj]

I think there is some sort of natural mutation rate when transmitting oral information, such as when playing the game Telephone. In the case of the gospels, there were some essential concepts to maintain and there were some ancillary information that was less essential but served to fill out the presentation of the essential concepts. That this ancillary info might have somehow gotten tweaked when putting things to paper does not concern me in regards to the essential concepts being maintained. Of course, one person's ancillary info may be another's essential concept. So I really appreciate the idea of literary flexibility by compositional devices being presented here. I also appreciate the idea of an author eliding info for the sake of simplicity of presentation, as I do not want to ignore any of the canon text we have. Thank you Mike for your service.

[ADHD_Samurai]

the uncharitable nature of her responses to these videos is troubling.